Randall Bipartisan Bill to Prevent Real Fraud Advances in Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C - Today, the House Oversight Committee voted (38-2) to advance Congresswoman Emily Randall's (D, WA-06) bipartisan Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act of 2025. The legislation, co-led by Congressman Keith Self (R, TX-03), would prevent individuals convicted of federal fraud and theft crimes tied to federal programs from continuing to access taxpayer-funded contracts, grants, loans, and other federal assistance.

"We've sat through many hearings in this committee where my colleagues on the other side have pointed fingers at democratically led cities and states while ignoring what's happening in their own backyards and failing to come to the table with real solutions. Instead of political theater, our neighbors deserve us to be spending time discussing and enacting proven, vetted solutions…," said Rep. Randall. "The Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act is that common sense legislation to disrupt and end patterns of fraud and prevent misuse of taxpayer dollars."

Republican leadership has cited 'waste, fraud, and abuse' as justification for slashing $1.1 trillionfrom Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. As a result, an estimated 15 million people will lose coverage. In February, the administration halted $259 million in Medicaid reimbursementsto the State of Minnesota, claiming 'widespread fraud' as justification.

Rep. Randall's bipartisan legislation, developed in conjunction with the Inspectors General (IG), will prevent real instancesof well documented fraud, saving the IGs hours to go after other perpetrators, and will help ensure fairness and protect access to these critical funding sources for the people that rely on them.

The Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act of 2025;

• Creates an automatic 3 year ban for any individual convicted of a covered felony related to misusing taxpayer-funded contracts from applying to more funding.

• Amends Title 41 of the U.S. Code to require that any individual convicted of a covered felony, (arising out of an agency contract, grant, cooperative agreement, loan, or other federal financial assistance), be listed as an excluded source in the System for Award Management exclusions.
• Covered felonies include a defined set of federal offenses spanning conspiracy, false claims, theft, bribery, false statements, identity and access device crimes, computer fraud, major fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

While Inspectors General can provide referrals to agency officials to debar a convicted individual from being eligible for federal funding, this can be a time intensive process and curtails their ability to focus efforts on investigating other allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse. A report from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) found that of, "550 felony fraud convictions involving pandemic Federal program funds over a 3-year period found that more than 95% of those convicted were not suspended or debarred from doing business with the government." The Federal Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention Act would have made those 550 convicted individuals automatically ineligible.

Congresswoman Randall called for House Oversight Chair Comer to bring her bill before the Committee at a hearing earlier this month: "Mr. Chairman, if you are serious about addressing fraud, I'd love to see this committee hold a hearing on my bill, which was developed based on feedback from non-partisan Inspectors General, whose entire job is overseeing the improvement of the appropriate administration of government programs."

Video of Congresswoman Randall's exchange from that hearing is available HERE. Go HEREfor the full bill text.

Video of Congresswoman Randall's remarks from today's Oversight Markup are available HERE, and full transcript HERE.

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